Benchmarks add gains; Sensex above 27000 mark

Indian equity benchmarks added gains to continue their firm trade in the late afternoon session on account of buying in frontline blue chip counters. The BSE Sensex breached the psychologically important level of 27,000 points for the first time to hit its third consecutive record high while the Nifty too touched a record high. The sentiments were on optimistic note after Balance of Payments (BoP) data released yesterday evening showed it in surplus for the third straight quarter and Current Account Deficit despite widening remained well within limits. Traders were seen piling up positions in Infra, Realty and Consumer Durables while selling was witnessed in Metal sector stocks. In scrip specific development, Cipla was trading in green as the company has launched its generic drug used for treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Germany and Sweden.

On the global front, the Asian markets were trading on a mixed note, while the European markets traded on optimistic note. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading above their psychological 8,050 and 27,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was positive in the ratio of 1773:1082 while 125 scrips remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 27047.83, up by 180.28 points or 0.67% after trading in a range of 26886.22 and 27082.85. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.97%, while Small cap index up by 1.18%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were INFRA up by 1.49%, Realty up by 1.21%, Consumer Durables up by 0.96%, TECK up by 0.94%, Bankex up by 0.73% while, Metal down by 0.46% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Cipla up by 5.14%, Bharti Airtel up by 4.43%, Sun Pharma up by 2.48%, Hero MotoCorp up by 1.86% and HDFC Bank up by 1.78%. On the flip side, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.09%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.83%, Tata Steel down by 0.73%, Tata Motors down by 0.69% and Hindalco down by 0.62% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, global rating agency Moody's Investors Service has described oil ministry's plan to divide fuel subsidies equally between the government and the two state-owned upstream oil and gas producers namely ONGC and Oil India, as 'credit positive' for both Oil marketing companies.

According to the global rating agency, the plan, if implemented would be credit positive for ONGC and OIL since this would reduce their share of fuel subsidies by 36%, or around Rs 22,000 crore, thus improving cash flows and profitability of the upstream companies.

Presently, ONGC and Oil India share the fuel subsidy burden with the government on an ad-hoc basis as decided by the government, however if the plan is implemented, their subsidy share would include an oil industry development levy, an existing tax based on their crude oil production.

The 50% share of fuel subsidy that these upstream producers would be supposed to pay, will sum up to around Rs 50,000 crore for this fiscal, down from Rs 67,000 crore a year ago, out of which, fuel subsidies will be around Rs 40,000 crore and an oil industry development levy would be around Rs 10,000 crore. Further, with the government paying the remaining 50% share, ONGC’s revenue and operating cash flows would come down by Rs 18,500-19,500 crore in the fiscal, while OIL's would rise by Rs 1,000-1,800 crore.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 8093.65, up by 65.95 points or 0.82% after trading in a range of 8036.55 and 8101.95. There were 37 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Cipla up by 5.28%, Bharti Airtel up by 4.64%, Grasim Industries up by 4.21%, Ambuja Cement up by 2.66% and Ultratech Cement up by 2.66%. On the flip side, Sesa Sterlite down by 2.24%, Jindal Steel & Power down by 2.02%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.90%, Asian Paints down by 0.86% and BPCL down by 0.69% were the top losers.

The Asian markets were trading on a mixed note; Straits Times increased 14.72 points or 0.44% to 3,328.85, Jakarta Composite increased 22.67 points or 0.44% to 5,200.29, Shanghai Composite increased 30.54 points or 1.37% to 2,266.05 and Nikkei 225 increased 192 points or 1.24% to 15,668.60.

On the other hand, Taiwan Weighted decreased 113.34 points or 1.19% to 9,399.72, KOSPI Index decreased 16.28 points or 0.79% to 2,051.58, Hang Seng decreased 3.07 points or 0.01% to 24,749.02 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI decreased 0.31 points or 0.02% to 1,865.80.

The European markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 21.5 points or 0.49% to 4,401.23, Germany’s DAX increased 94 points or 0.99% to 9,573.03 and UK’s FTSE 100 increased 22.46 points or 0.33% to 6,847.77.